PRO Neighborhoods 2018 Applicant Trends Report

PRO Neighborhoods is a $125 million, five-year commitment that JP Morgan Chase & Co. launched to address the neighborhood quality issues that are among the biggest drivers of income and wealth inequality. The PRO Neighborhoods Competition empowers CDFIs and local community-focused organizations to spark dramatic neighborhood improvement alongside residents, businesses and local decision-makers. This year, PRO Neighborhoods solicited proposals for two opportunities:

Capital grants: Designed for communities with a capital strategy to advance anexisting equitable development plan that addresses challenges within their target geography, and how their collective strategy among the local community lenders will benefit the neighborhood(s).

Planning grants: Intended for local leaders and stakeholders to identify the greatest needs facing their communities and develop an equitable development plan in distressed neighborhoods; these plans require intentional, upfront planning to incorporate the local community and ensure the needs of vulnerable residents are addressed, and to mitigate adverse effects from future investments.

Next Street worked with JP Morgan to help manage the review process for the PRO Neighborhoods capital and planning grants. The attached reporthighlights the trends observed from the applicant pool from both grants.